Daniel Beaty

Daniel Beaty is an award-winning actor, singer, writer, and composer. In the 2010-2011 season, he had an extended off-Broadway run of his acclaimed solo play Through The Night produced by Daryl Roth. For this production Daniel received 2011 Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle nominations as well as the 2010 AUDELCO Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and the 2010 Ovation Award for Best Male Lead Actor. His critically acclaimed solo play Emergence-See! ran off-Broadway to a sold-out, extended run at The Public Theater in 2006.  For this production, he received the 2007 Obie Award for Excellence in Off-Broadway Theater for Writing & Performing and the 2007 AUDELCO Award for Solo Performance. He is the recipient of the 2007 Scotsman Fringe First Award for the best new writer at the Edinburgh Festival and was presented with a Lamplighter Award from the Black Leadership Forum in Washington D.C. In 2008, Emergence-See!, now re-titled Emergency had a sold-out seven-week engagement at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles and was awarded two 2009 NAACP Theater Awards including Best Actor.

Daniel has worked throughout the U.S., Europe, and Africa performing on programs with artists such as Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Jill Scott, Sonia Sanchez, MC Lyte, Mos Def, Tracy Chapman, Deepak Chopra, and Phylicia Rashad. He holds a BA with Honors in English & Music from Yale University and an MFA in Acting from the American Conservatory Theatre. His ensemble play Resurrection received its world premiere production at Arena Stage (where he was awarded the 2008 Edgerton Foundation’s new American Play Award); followed by engagements at Hartford Stage, the Philadelphia Theatre Company, and ETA Theater in Chicago. In 2013, his ensemble musical Breath & Imagination premiered as a co-production with Hartford Stage and City Theatre.

His solo play on the life of Paul Robeson – The Tallest Tree in the Forest – directed by Moises Kaufman had its world premiere at Kansas City Repertory Theater (MO) and at La Jolla Playhouse (CA) in 2013. He is a proud member of New Dramatists and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University. His first children’s book based on his poem Knock Knock was released by Little Brown Books in 2013. Daniel has also written a Spoken World Ballet Far But Close which premiered in the 2012/13 season for Dance Theater of Harlem.